Mental retardation cited in death row appeal

San Antonio Express-News ^ | January 4, 2012 | Guillermo Contreras

[moonshinner_09]

A man on Texas' death row for the 1997 killing of a Kerrville rancher is asking a judge to set aside his capital punishment, arguing his constitutional rights would be violated if he's put to death because he is intellectually disabled.

Appellate lawyers for Ramiro Hernandez-Llanas made the request Wednesday at a hearing in San Antonio before U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez.

In September, Rodriguez turned down Hernandez-Llanas' request for habeas corpus (a type of appeal), but his lawyers Wednesday asked the judge to reconsider, arguing that Rodriguez made his decision based on incorrect information provided by a clerk who reviews death-penalty habeas petitions for the court.

[moonshinner_09]

He knew enough to make it all the way into America, from Mexico, but because he was born in Mexico he should get special treatment, this implies ?

[DuncanWaring]

Does he have the mental capacity to understand what’s happening and to “make his peace with his Maker”?

If so, he’s eligible to be executed.

That’s the classic standard under the English Common Law.

[SandRat]

intellectually disabled - does that mean he failed 12th grade?

[SpinnerWebb]

At trial, they heard testimony that he raped a 15-year-old Kerrville girl in 1997, less than a year after escaping a 25-year prison sentence in his hometown of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, for a 1989 murder there.

There's a little jewel buried at the bottom of the article. No mention of his legal status in the US, but... his "hometown" is in Mexico.

[17th Miss Regt]

intellectually disabled - does that mean he failed 12th grade?

In public education today intellectually disabled means they completed high school and studied liberal arts at some Ivy league college.

[17th Miss Regt]

There's a little jewel buried at the bottom of the article.

Evidently the Mexican government thought he was intellectually abled enough to stand trial for murder in Nuevo Laredo.

[17th Miss Regt]

Here is an idea that should make liberals happy. Rather than execute him, teach him some physics so that he can become the productive citizen we all want him to become! Teach him about the interaction of gravity and a weighted rope after a short fall. Tell him it is a physics lab experiment.

[Little Ray]

I don’t think age, mental retardation, insanity, etc., should be considered when deciding to execute someone.

EVER.

There are only two things that should be considered:

1. If released or escaped, would he present a threat to the public?
2. If imprisoned, would he present a threat to guards or other inmates?

If the answer to either question is “yes,” fry him.

[AppyPappy]

Smart enough to kill, too stupid to die.

[TheOldLady]

Click Florida

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[moonshinner_09]

hey this is a point well made.

[Pollster1]

Ramiro Hernandez-Llanas has the mental capacity to rape a child, to beat his employer to death (not his first murder), and to tie up and repeatedly rape his dead employer’s wife (not his first rape). If this evil predator has the mental capacity to know that a child is an easier target than an adult and to know that he gets more rapes in with the widow tied up and helpless, he has the mental capacity to conduct electricity for Old Sparky.